FINALIST FOR THE 2020 HILARY WESTON WRITERS' TRUST PRIZE FOR NONFICTION * A New York Times New & Noteworthy Book * A CBC Best Nonfiction Book of 2020 * A Globe and Mail Top 100 Book for 2020 "Combining his poetic sensibilities and storytelling skills with a documentarian's eye, [Heighton] has created a wrenching narrative."-2020 Hilary Weston Writers' Trust Prize for Nonfiction Jury In the fall of 2015, Steven Heighton made an overnight decision to travel to the frontlines of the Syrian refugee crisis in Greece and enlist as a volunteer. He arrived on the isle of Lesvos with a duffel bag and a dubious grasp of Greek, his mother's native tongue, and worked on the landing beaches and in OXY--a jerrybuilt, ad hoc transit camp providing simple meals, dry clothes, and a brief rest to refugees after their crossing from Turkey. In a town deserted by the tourists that had been its lifeblood, Heighton--alongside the exhausted locals and under-equipped international aid workers--found himself thrown into emergency roles for which he was woefully unqualified. From the brief reprieves of volunteer-refugee soccer matches to the riots of Camp Moria, Reaching Mithymna is a firsthand account of the crisis and an engaged exploration of the borders that divide us and the ties that bind.

As a relatively young field, emergency management has already undergone considerable evolution and change. And now that Web 2.0 technologies and social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter have become inherently ingrained in all facets of our lives, emergency managers must once again re-evaluate best practices and standardized approaches. Providing a roadmap for twenty-first century emergency management best practices, Leadership in the Open: A New Paradigm in Emergency Management examines public expectations relative to the use of communication and Web 2.0 technologies for emergency management activities. It covers current technologies along with the public's demand for transparency and ever-increasing need for instant information and updates. The book is divided into three sections that focus on the fundamentals of social media, the potential effects of its strategic use in disaster management, and the attitude of engagement that is effective for community commitment. Coverage includes efficiency, magnification, humility, creativity, ethics, the tension of changing public expectations, and long-standing best practices within the emergency management community. This book builds on the author's bestseller, Disasters 2.0: The Application of Social Media Systems for Modern Emergency Management, by looking at an emergency manager's role not simply by job function, but on what the public demands. Filled with extensive real-world examples, this is an ideal guide for leaders in emergency management, first-response, and business continuity-as well as advanced level students preparing to enter the field.

Film has always played a crucial role in the imagination of disaster. The earthquake, especially, transforms our understanding of the limits and possibilities of cinema, as well as of life itself. After major quakes in countries as dissimilar as Japan, Chile, Iran and New Zealand, filmmakers have responded with films that challenge ingrained social, political, ethical and philosophical categories of thinking and being in the world. Film on the Faultline explores the fractious relationship between cinema and seismic experience and addresses the important role that cinema can play in the wake of such events.

'A virtuoso feat ... a book of panoramic breadth' New York Times Book Review 'A devastating analysis ... Wright is a master of knitting together complex narratives' The Observer Just as Lawrence Wright's The Looming Tower became the defining account of our century's first devastating event, 9/11, so The Plague Year will become the defining account of the second. The story starts with the initial moments of Covid's appearance in Wuhan and ends with Joseph Biden's inauguration in an America ravaged by well over 400,000 deaths - a mortality already some ten times worse than US combat deaths in the entire Vietnam War. This is an anguished, furious memorial to a year in which all of America's great strengths - its scientific knowledge, its great civic and intellectual institutions, its spirit of voluntarism and community - were brought low, not by a terrifying new illness alone, but by political incompetence and cynicism on a scale for which there has been no precedent. With insight, sympathy, clarity and rage, The Plague Year allows the reader to see the unfolding of this great tragedy, talking with individuals on the front line, bringing together many moving and surprising stories and painting a devastating picture of a country literally and fatally misled. 'Maddening and sobering - as comprehensive an account of the first year of the pandemic as we've yet seen' Kirkus

During the war in Sierra Leone (1991 2002), members of various rebel movements kidnapped thousands of girls and women, some of whom came to take an active part in the armed conflict alongside the rebels. In a stunning look at the life of women in wartime, Chris Coulter draws on interviews with more than a hundred women to bring us inside the rebel camps in Sierra Leone.

When these girls and women returned to their home villages after the cessation of hostilities, their families and peers viewed them with skepticism and fear, while humanitarian organizations saw them primarily as victims. Neither view was particularly helpful in helping them resume normal lives after the war. Offering lessons for policymakers, practitioners, and activists, Coulter shows how prevailing notions of gender, both in home communities and among NGO workers, led, for instance, to women who had taken part in armed conflict being bypassed in the demilitarization and demobilization processes carried out by the international community in the wake of the war. Many of these women found it extremely difficult to return to their families, and, without institutional support, some were forced to turn to prostitution to eke out a living.

Coulter weaves several themes through the work, including the nature of gender roles in war, livelihood options in war and peace, and how war and postwar experiences affect social and kinship relations."

The Handbook provides a comprehensive statement and reference point for hazard and disaster research, policy making, and practice in an international and multi-disciplinary context. It offers critical reviews and appraisals of current state of the art and future development of conceptual, theoretical and practical approaches as well as empirical knowledge and available tools. Organised into five inter-related sections, this Handbook contains sixty-five contributions from leading scholars. Section One situates hazards and disasters in their broad political, cultural, economic, and environmental context. Section Two contains treatments of potentially damaging natural events/phenomena organized by major earth system. Section Three critically reviews progress in responding to disasters including warning, relief and recovery. Section Four addresses mitigation of potential loss and prevention of disasters under two sub-headings: governance, advocacy and self-help, and communication and participation. Section Five ends with a concluding chapter by the editors. The engaging international contributions reflect upon the politics and policy of how we think about and practice applied hazard research and disaster risk reduction. This Handbook provides a wealth of interdisciplinary information and will appeal to students and practitioners interested in Geography, Environment Studies and Development Studies.

Growing concerns about climate change and the increasing occurrence of ever more devastating natural disasters in some parts of the world and their consequences for human life, not only in the immediately affected regions, but for all of us, have increased our desire to learn more about disaster experiences in the past. How did disaster experiences impact on the development of modern sciences in the early modern era? Why did religion continue to play such an important role in the encounter with disasters, despite the strong trend towards secularization in the modern world? What was the political role of disasters? Historical Disasters in Context illustrates how past societies coped with a threatening environment, how societies changed in response to disaster experiences, and how disaster experiences were processed and communicated, both locally and globally. Particular emphasis is put on the realms of science, religion, and politics. International case studies demonstrate that while there are huge differences across cultures in the way people and societies responded to disasters, there are also many commonalities and interactions between different cultures that have the potential to alter the ways people prepare for and react to disasters in future. To explain these relationships and highlight their significance is the purpose of this volume.

Each year, natural disasters threaten the strength and stability of communities worldwide. Yet responses to the challenges of recovery vary greatly and in ways that aren't explained by the magnitude of the catastrophe or the amount of aid provided by national governments or the international community. The difference between resilience and disrepair, as Daniel P. Aldrich shows, lies in the depth of communities' social capital. "Building Resilience" highlights the critical role of social capital in the ability of a community to withstand disaster and rebuild both the infrastructure and the ties that are at the foundation of any community. Aldrich examines the post-disaster responses of four distinct communities--Tokyo following the 1923 earthquake, Kobe after the 1995 earthquake, Tamil Nadu after the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami, and New Orleans post-Katrina--and finds that those with robust social networks were better able to coordinate recovery. In addition to quickly disseminating information and financial and physical assistance, communities with an abundance of social capital were able to minimize the migration of people and valuable resources out of the area. With governments increasingly overstretched and natural disasters likely to increase in frequency and intensity, a thorough understanding of what contributes to efficient reconstruction is more important than ever. "Building Resilience" underscores a critical component of an effective response.

Labyrinths explores the origins of thirteen books I have written in the past few decades, texts that have helped to define the emerging parameters of relief operations that inevitably follow armed conflicts or natural disasters. Widely used in international training programs, these books provide practical, specific approaches and solutions-to complex problems in a multidisciplinary field. But how, and why, and even when certain editorial decisions were made required a deeper probe, and Labyrinths looks back at the formative influences of childhood, adolescence, education, and early professional experiences. Many of the pieces in this volume predate the Fordham University Press Humanitarian Book series. They were written in a library in our beach home, overlooking sand dunes and the Atlantic Ocean, with the rhythmic sound of waves and bird song as background music. In the quiet isolation of a seaside town I find respite from a busy life devoted to clinical medicine, public health, teaching, travel, and a global network of international humanitarian assistance projects. This book is dedicated "For the People of Point Lookout," who have respected my privacy while I develop initiatives that have spread from this tiny hamlet to reach millions of vulnerable people around the world.

This text examines actual attempts to "prepare" for catastrophes and finds that the policies adopted by corporations and government agencies are fundamentally rhetorical: the plans have no chance to succeed, yet they serve both the organizations and the public as symbols of control, order and stability. These "fantasy documents" attempt to inspire confidence in organizations, but Lee Clarke suggests that they are disturbing persuasions, soothing the perception that ultimately one cannot control technological advances. For example, Clarke studies corporations' plans for cleaning up oil spills in Prince William Sound prior to the "Exxon Valdez" debacle, and he finds that the accepted strategies were not just unrealistic but completely untenable. Although different organizations were required to have a cleanup plan for huge spills in the sound, a really massive spill was unprecedented, and the accepted policy was little more than a patchwork of guesses based on (mostly unsuccessful) cleanups after smaller accidents. Clarke points out that reassuring rhetoric (under the guise of expert prediction) may have no basis in fact or truth because no such basis is attainable. In uncovering the dangers of planning when implementation is a fantasy, Clark concludes that society would be safer, smarter, and fairer if organizations could admit their limitations.

Dublin did not escape the Great Famine: many of its inhabitants experienced acute poverty and illness, while the capital witnessed an influx of the rural poor seeking refuge and relief. However, Dublin has remained largely neglected in popular and scholarly narratives of the Famine. This collection of essays breaks new ground and reconsiders the Famine and its historiography by locating Dublin city and its inhabitants at the centre of its focus. This volume, containing work by established and emerging scholars, presents some of the most recent research into life in Dublin during this period of unprecedented distress. As such, it constitutes the most detailed analysis to date of the impact of the Great Famine on Dublin and its inhabitants, and is the first monograph wholly devotedto this subject. This pioneering volume offers an interdisciplinary approach and a range of perspectives from its thirteen contributors. Featuring a foreword by Cormac O Grada and including a comprehensive overview of Famine scholarship on Dublin to date, its twelve additional essays cover such diverse topics as business life and industry in the city, the impact of the Famine on Dublin's charity and welfare landscapes, suicide and trauma at this time of acute crisis, experiences of the marginalised within prisons and hospitals, and cultural representations of Famine-era Dublin. It examines both direct and indirect impacts of the Famine on the city, noting promising future areas of research, and arguing for the reinvigoration of urban histories with Famine studies. This volume of essays will appeal to students, scholars and general enthusiasts of 19th-century Irish history, especially those interested in the history of the Great Famine and of Dublin. Generously illustrated, it illuminates an overlooked but essential dimension of Irish history.

Public Relations and Journalism in Times of Crisis dissects crisis communication case studies from both the journalists' and the public relations professionals' perspectives. The authors, Andrea Miller, a former journalist, and Jinx Coleman Broussard, a former public relations professional, interviewed dozens of journalists and PR professionals involved in some of the most visible crises of the last few years: Hurricane Katrina, Ebola in America, the Blue Bell Ice Cream recall, Susan G. Komen vs. Planned Parenthood, race relations in Ferguson, Missouri, and at the University of Missouri, the great flood of Baton Rouge in 2016, and the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. Hundreds of press releases and press stories were also reviewed. The authors provide practical strategies for working journalists and public relations practitioners to enhance the flow of information in a crisis so that audiences and stakeholders can make educated, rational decisions to protect their families and livelihoods. The book also acquaints professors and students of PR and journalism with the realities of covering and managing crises, including what works and why, as well as mistakes that occur that could damage their organizations. Public Relations and Journalism in Times of Crisis is unique for its analysis of the communication of cases from both perspectives. At the end of each case are takeaways for both sets of professionals, as well as industry best practice suggestions.

Families are actors and drivers in migration and refugee crises. However, the current protection frameworks privilege the individual over the family unit. Consequently, the stories of families in migration have remained under-researched and their challenges under-addressed. This volume explores the interplay between family, separation, and migration in the Middle East, West Africa, Southeast Asia, Europe, and Latin America, and in the context of the 2015 global refugee crisis. Guiding it are two questions: How do family, migration, and separation play out across geographical, political, and historical contexts? And what are the gaps in the protection of migrants and their families? Thirteen authors - academics and practitioners - discuss the international protection for refugees, migration governance, child mobility, disability and immigration, human trafficking, and dilemmas in refugee reporting. The book proposes a paradigm shift in the way we cater to the needs and aspirations of families on the move. Its authors offer evidence-based solutions that cut across polarized discussions on migration and refugees. As such, the volume is aimed at researchers, students, policymakers, and experts working in international relations, migration, human rights, and refugee protection.

The Children of Atlantis is a collection of statements by a hundred young people who have fled various parts of the former Yugoslavia in the face of war and destruction, nationalism, hatred and ethnic cleansing, the pressure to take sides, and the draft. As refugees, they are seeking to continue or complete their education at universities around the world, all the while confronting the task of making something of their lives amid the catastrophe that has overwhelmed them, their families, and their homeland. Gathered here are extracts from essays written by the students describing the circumstances that drove them to leave their homes, and the different ways (both optimistic and bleak) they envision their futures. It offers a snapshot of virtually a whole generation of young people on the threshold of their working lives, uprooted from the world they grew up in. Their voices are varied, expressing pain, anger, uncertainty, hope, and the positive energy of youth. What they have in common is a sense of disbelief and bewilderment at the forces unleashed in what was their country.
In a way this is a war-report, though not prepared by foreign war-reporters or covered from the frontlines. Rather, it is a diverse chronicle revealing the unseen psychological aspects of war, written by the victims from the depths of their souls.

The world is becoming more hazardous as natural and social processes combine to create complex situations of increased vulnerability and risk. There is increasing recognition that this trend is creating exigencies that must be dealt with. The common approach is to delegate the task of preparing an emergency plan to someone. Often that person is expected to get on with job but rarely is the means and instruction of how to write such a plan provided to them. There are a host of instances in which the letter of the law, not the spirit, is honoured by providing a token plan of little validity. David Alexander provides, in this book, the assistance needed to write an emergency plan. It is a practical 'how to' manual and guide aimed at managers in business, civil protection officers, civil security officials, civil defence commanders, neighbourhood leaders and disaster managers who have been tasked with writing, reviewing or preparing emergency plans for all kinds of emergency, disaster or catastrophe. He takes the reader through the process of writing an emergency plan, step by step, starting with the rationale and context, before moving on through the stages of writing and activating a basic, generic emergency plan and concludes with information on specific kinds of plan, for example, for hospitals and cultural heritage sites. This practical guide also provides a core for postgraduate training in emergency management and has been written in such a way that it is not tied to the legal constraints of any particular jurisdiction.

Is any disaster really forgotten? It is never forgotten by the survivors who lived through the trauma. It is never forgotten by the emergency services who tried to save the day. It is never forgotten by the relatives of those who never came home. Britain's Lost Tragedies Uncovered is a look at the tragedies and disasters that may not have stayed in public memory, but are no less terrible than their more famous counterparts. From a late-nineteenth-century family massacre in London to two separate fatal crashes at Dibbles Bridge in Yorkshire, and the worst-ever aviation show crash in post-war Farnborough to the horrifying Barnsley Public Hall disaster - here are twenty-three accounts of true devastation and stunning bravery. They are tales that deserve to be remembered.

The book highlights the root cause of human trafficking and analyses how factors of vulnerability affect the marginalized, especially during and after a disaster. Human trafficking like other studies on disaster research, needs to be tackled from various perspectives such as empowering the vulnerable people, creating awareness, strengthening the disaster risk reduction measures and creating a common platform to fight the vicious circle by breaking its continuity and making strategies victim centric and people friendly. The book adapts a multidisciplinary approach embedding concepts from political, social, economic and anthropological perceptions. The discourse in the book revolves around the emotional and psycho-social stress factors including weak implementation of laws and policies at various levels. The content weaves around three themes -- magnitude and interlinks between disaster and human trafficking; policies and protocols on disaster risk reduction and human trafficking and community participation and institutional support. Through these themes, the volume works on identification of the vulnerable areas which are not in compliance with the Sendai Framework of Action, 2015 in the backdrop of the Disaster Management Act of India, 2005. The volume will be of immense interest to a wide range of practitioners, researchers, academicians, policy makers, political leaders, gender experts, international organizations, disaster management authorities, civil society organisations, and scholars working in the area of human rights in general and trafficking in particular. Note: This research was funded by Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR). Human Trafficking is complex, layered and lies at the intersections of multiple vulnerabilities, gender being among the most significant ones. This gets exacerbated during both natural and human made disasters. Any attempt to either understand or address it will be fraught with challenges if women and girls' unique vulnerabilities, as well as their needs, voice, choice, agency and safety is not centre-staged in any effort. Mondira's book does exactly that...it succinctly and in simple words explores the compounding discriminations, including structural inequalities, that cause and result in women and girls differential gendered vulnerabilities to being trafficked during disasters. Once this is understood, the solutions can be specific, gender responsive, and sustainable. - Anju Dubey Pandey, Gender Responsive Governance and Ending Violence against Women Specialist, UN Women, New Delhi, India

Crisis Communication is an in-depth examination of recent tragedies and natural disasters that have occurred around the globe. The book covers three types of incidents: natural catastrophes, accidents and terror attacks. It focuses on the communication aspect of each incident and provides accounts from people handling the event. Each chapter offers a detailed description of the event and supplementary facts and illustrations from a variety of sources. With a focus on critical communication elements and lessons learned, Brataas offers valuable advice - based on personal experience with natural disasters, accidents and terror attacks - on some of the most effective ways to prepare for and deal with a crisis. Topics range from interview situations and social media to victim support and active shooter events. This book will be invaluable to those working in public relations and communications, as well as to those working with human resources and general management.

In this moment of unprecedented humanitarian crises, the representations of global disasters are increasingly common media themes around the world. The Routledge Companion to Media and Humanitarian Action explores the interconnections between media, old and new, and the humanitarian challenges that have come to define the twenty-first century. Contributors, including media professionals and experts in humanitarian affairs, grapple with what kinds of media language, discourse, terms, and campaigns can offer enough context and background knowledge to nurture informed global citizens. Case studies of media practices, content analysis and evaluation of media coverage, and representations of humanitarian emergencies and affairs offer further insight into the ways in which strategic communications are designed and implemented in field of humanitarian action.

As commercial flight is changing dramatically and its future remains unclear, a look at how we got here Grounded: Perpetual Flight . . . and Then the Pandemic considers the time leading up to the COVID-19 pandemic and the ensuing global plummet in commercial flight. Mobility studies scholar Christopher Schaberg tours the newly opened airport terminal outside of New Orleans (MSY) in late 2019, and goes on to survey the broad cultural landscape of empty airports and grounded planes in the early months of the novel coronavirus's spread in 2020. The book culminates in a reflection on the future of air travel: what may unfold, and what parts of commercial flight are almost certainly relics of the past. Grounded blends journalistic reportage with cultural theory and philosophical inquiry in order to offer graspable insights as well as a stinging critique of contemporary air travel.

At approximately 8:45 a.m. on 6 December 1917, the Belgian Relief vessel IMO struck the munitions-laden freighter Mont-Blanc in Halifax Harbour. The Mont-Blanc exploded in a devastating 2.9 kiloton blast, which killed 2,000 people and injured 9,000. More than 6,000 people were made homeless, and an additional 12,000 were left without shelter. Bearing Witness tells the story of the Explosion, and the catastrophic damage it caused, through the eyes and words of more than two dozen journalists and record keepers who experienced it first hand. Their accounts reveal a unique perspective, offering new detail about the tragedy and providing insight into the individuals who struggled to articulate the magnitude of the shocking event to the rest of the world. In addition to the original work by journalists and record keepers, Michael Dupuis provides over 30 photographs and illustrations, several previously unseen, and a detailed timeline of journalistic activities from the time of the Explosion on December 6 to December 16.

South Asia is one of the most vulnerable areas of an increasingly disaster-impacted world, with cyclones, earthquakes, floods and droughts causing several casualties and disrupting lives and livelihoods every year. Yet the impacts of disasters are not equally distributed across the peoples of the region.Women and men experience disaster differently, and their needs in the aftermath of disaster often differ. Bringing together perspectives from academics, emergency response specialists and development practitioners, the volume investigates to what extent and in what ways gender affects the course of post-disaster reconstruction. Conversely, it also explores in what ways gender politics may be altered by disaster and post-disaster reconstruction. The study includes: a comprehensive overview of key issues facing women and men, as gendered beings, in reconstruction and development; a targeted observation of specific South Asian disaster contexts; and a sustained discussion of case studies and their implications and lessons. This book will interest scholars and researchers of disaster management, rehabilitation studies, gender, environment, ecology and sociology. It will also be useful to institutions dealing with natural and man-made disasters, non-governmental organisations and disaster recovery professionals.

Ireland's Great Famine of 1845-52 was among the most devastating food crises in modern history. A country of some eight-and-a-half-million people lost one million to hunger and disease and another million to emigration. According to land activist Michael Davitt, the starving made little or no effort to assert "the animal's right to existence," passively accepting their fate. But the poor did resist. In word and deed, they defied landlords, merchants and agents of the state: they rioted for food, opposed rent and rate collection, challenged the decisions of those controlling relief works, and scorned clergymen who attributed their suffering to the Almighty. The essays collected here examine the full range of resistance in the Great Famine, and illuminate how the crisis itself transformed popular politics. Contributors include distinguished scholars of modern Ireland and emerging historians and critics. This book is essential reading for students of modern Ireland, and the global history of collective action.